The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
President’s Role Reversal
While
President Donald Trump was unable to join many other leaders in Poland to
commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of that
country, he did forward on a message. “I just want to congratulate Poland.”
Whatever.
The
president’s role during emergencies—such as devastating
hurricanes—is to be the comforting, confidence-inducing public face of
the federal government advisories—armed with facts, warnings, reassurances,
hope, help and empathy. Alas, intemperate, uninformed presidential tweets and
drive-by, off-the-cuff media quotes are not the same thing. And worse yet when
they undermine NOAA and its apolitical credibility. That was the unfortunate
upshot when the president recently relied more on a Sharpie than meteorologists
in noting—and re-noting–that Hurricane Dorian was headed to Alabama. And then the inexplicable acknowledgement
that he’d never “even heard of a Category 5 hurricane,” which Michael
was when it raked parts of the Florida Panhandle last summer. “Helluva job,
Brownie” never seemed so eloquent.
“The
LameStream media and their Democrat partner should start playing it
straight. It would be so much better for our Country.”—Yes, that was the
patriot-in-chief.
“I
have no fear of being under oath … Bring it.”—No, that obviously wasn’t
President Trump; it was Stormy Daniels. The porn actress was indicating
that she’s ready to testify before Congress regarding Trump’s alleged role in hush-money
payments.
“The
Wall is being built. It’s going up rapidly.”—Donald Trump. Yeah,
and El Chapo, not budget sleight of hand at the expense of military
families, will pay for it.
“He
isn’t winning friends in Europe. He’s losing friends at home. His is a
government with no mandate, no morals and, as of today, no majority.” No, that
wasn’t one of the Democratic presidential candidates lashing out at Trump. That
was British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in reference to Prime
Minister Boris Johnson, who has been getting pummeled by (Conservative) party
defections over Brexit.
“The
Trumps will be a dynasty that will last for decades, propelling the
Republican Party into a new party.”—That was Trump campaign manager Brad
Parscale, sounding every bit like a Trump campaign manager. It’s likely
we’ll be seeing this line again—in either party’s primaries. Dynastic rhetoric
doesn’t play well in most democratic contexts.
Trump
legacy: Corey Lewandowski, the punk who was Trump’s
pre-Manafort campaign manager, is likely running for the Senate in New
Hampshire. The GOP establishment wants Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
defeated, of course, but preferably not by the unsettling wise guy who insults
mainstream Republican leaders. “Corey is the original lightning rod—some people
love him, some people detest him,” points out Steve Duprey, the New Hampshire
State GOP chairman. “But he’s pretty mainstream now because it’s a different
party.” We’ve been noticing.
You
knew it was coming. “Where’s My Roy Cohn?”—a documentary of the flamboyant,
ruthless and unapologetically defiant lawyer Roy Cohn–will be released
later this month. You knew it was coming because Donald Trump was his protégé;
from Cohn, he learned—and continues to practice—lessons that are manifest every
day. That includes, points out Cohn documentarian Matt Tyrnauer, these familiar
Trumpian “principles”: “Never apologize. If someone hits you, hit them back a
thousand times harder. Any publicity is good publicity. And find an ‘other.’”
For Cohn, the “other” were Jews as Bolsheviks and gays in the State Department.
“With Trump, the other is Mexicans, Latinos, Muslims, fill in the blank,” says
Tyrnauer. In effect, Trump has turned the presidency, unsurprisingly, into a Cohn
job.